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flick picks by Gal Balaban

Monthly Archives: February 2013

The Oscars took place this Sunday at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood from 5:30 PM to 9 PM. I watched the whole thing live with my family. We all really enjoyed watching it. There were funny parts, such as when Jennifer Lawrence tripped on her way upstage to receive her award (she won Best Actress for her role in Silver Linings Playbook). Fortunately, Hugh Jackman (who was nominated Best Actor for his role in Les Miserables) helped her get back up. I think she tripped because of her skirt. My favorite part was when Mark Wahlberg and “Ted” (probably just a robot teddy bear voiced by Seth Macfarlene) presented the Best Sound Mixing and Sound Editing awards. That part was pretty funny, too. Lincoln got the most nominations (12) and Life of Pi won the most awards (4).

Also, The 85th Academy Awards were notable for several rare and first-time feats. Quvenzhane Wallis, a 9-year-old actress from a movie called Beasts of the Southern Wild, became the youngest person ever to be nominated an Oscar, while Emmanuelle Riva, an 85-year-old actress from a foreign movie called Amour, became the oldest person ever to be nominated an Oscar. Argo became the first Best Picture Winner in 23 years to not also have a Best Director nomination. Brenda Chapman became the first woman to win the Best Animated Feature award. She shared her award for the Pixar film Brave with co-director Mark Andrews. Also, Silver Linings Playbook became the first film in 31 years to be nominated for all acting categories. Jennifer Lawrence, who acted in that movie, became the youngest Best Actress 2-time nominee at age 22. Also, Les Miserables became the first musical movie to be nominated Best Leading Actor. Adele’s song “Skyfall” from the James Bond movie”Skyfall” became the first song from a James Bond movie to win the Best Original Song award. Daniel Day-Lewis became the first person ever in the Academy Award history to win 3 Best Actor awards in his lifetime.

Here is a list of the award categories and their winners:

Best Picture: Argo

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln

Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables

Best Director: Ang Lee for Life of Pi

Best Original Screenplay: Django Unchained

Best Adapted Screendplay: Argo

Best Animated Feature: Brave

Best Foreign Language Film: Amour (from Austria) in French

Best Documentary Feature: Searching for Sugar Man

Best Documentary Short: Inocente

Best Live Action Short Film: Curfew

Best Animated Short: Paperman

Best Original Score: Life of Pi

Best Original Song: “Skyfall” from “Skyfall”. Sung by Adele

Best Sound Editing: There was a tie between two movies: Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall

Best Sound Mixing: Les Miserables

Best Production Design: Lincoln

Best Cinematography: Life of Pi

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Les Miserables

Best Costume Design: Anna Karenina

Best Film Editing: Argo

Best Visual Effects: Life of Pi

Performances included the cast of Les Miserables, Adele, who sang Skyfall, Shirley Bassey, who sang Goldfinger, and the cast of Chicago. I think Wreck-It Ralph should have won Best Animated Feature and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey should have won Best Makeup and Hairstyling. I was surprised that Beasts of the Southern Wild received 4 nominations, including Best Picture, but it didn’t win any at all! I can’t wait until the next Oscars!

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This 3D-animaed comedy takes place on planet Baab, where admired astronaut Scorch Supernova (Brendan Fraser) is a national hero to the blue alien population. Scorch works with his brother, Gary (Rob Corddry) and his boss, Lena (Jessica Alba) at BASA. When Scorch goes on a mission to “The Dark Planet” (which is actually our planet, Earth), he is captured by the ruthless leader of Area 51, William T. Shanker (Star Trek‘s William Shatner). Now Gary must save his brother, his planet, his wife Kira (Sarah Jessica Parker) and their son Kip (Bedtime Stories‘ Jonathan Morgan Heit). the film also stars Craig Robinson, Sofia Vergara, Ricky Gervais, Jane Lynch, George Lopez and Steve Zahn. This movie is rated PG by the MPAA for “action and some mild rude humor”.

This film is filled with laughs and humor. It is now my favorite animated movie of all time!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would recommend this movie for kids of all ages. I think everyone will enjoy it, even adults!

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I saw this movie yesterday on Amazon Instant Video with my family. We all enjoyed it. It made us crack up! This movie was released on DVD and Blu-ray this Tuesday. It is also available on Xfinity On Demand. This movie is rated PG by the MPAA for “bouts of MMA sports violence, some rude humor and language”.

This film is about a former college wrestler named Scott Voss (Kevin James) who is now a 42-year-old bored biology teacher at a failing high school. When budget cuts lead to cancelling the music program, Scott decides to become a mixed martial arts fighter to save it. The film’s cast also includes Salma Hayek, Henry Winkler, Bas Rutten and Charice.

I really liked the cast and the comedy of this hilarious film, which is directed by Frank Coraci. This is now my favorite Kevin James movie. I would recommend this movie for kids my age or older but it might be inappropriate for kids younger.